Okay, wrong terminology. Granted. We had a shot, but had we somehow backed in, no one had much confidence in our ability to get beyond the first W/C, given how we would have gotten there. Again, "the trend within the trend" was most disturbing, not the overall 8-8 record.
We then became the "scorned lover" and reached out for Tebow on the bounce, especially now that the cat was out of the bag and Sanchez got wind of our Manning ovations. Manning would have absolutely filled Woody's stadium in a heartbeat. It's logical that Woody would then reach out for the second-best splash of the offseason.
I place so much emphasis myself on how a particular record is arrived at, that I often find it hard to comprehend how others do not. This has two major implications coming out of the Jets' season last year. The Downward Trend. As the loser in the AFC Champ Game in 2010, the Jets could legitimately claim to have been one of the top favorites to make the playoffs in 2011. At least as of Opening Day there appeared to be no major losses on the roster (although the loss of Edwards turned out to be). The first game was a national game against the Cboys, a team with playoff aspirations. We should have paid more attention to that game. Despite winning it, it is fair to say Dallas lost it more than the Jets won it. The three game losing streak against Oakland, Baltimore and first NE actually told us much about the Jets' real prospects last year. This streak included Mangold's injury which when added to Thomas's season ending injury created problems on both sides of the ball. Pace had to work harder on setting the edge rather than rushing the passer. Mangold's absence and lack of an adequate backup rendered the O inept. The Jets seemed to right themselves to end up 5-3 at the halfway point, but those wins at least arguably look more questionable than they did at the time. Miami was sucking at that point, and the strength they showed was later in the season. We thought the Chargers were playoff contenders. They were not, and could not even win the division when the winner's record was only 8-8. And Buffalo, which was doing well up til then, was a paper tiger. But even if you do not buy the foregoing, it is beyond dispute that with the playoffs very reachable from a 5-3 record, with Mangold back and no other major injuries to contend with, the Jets pretty much crapped the bed the rest of the season. Even one of the wins, the second Buffalo game, should have been a loss. In short the TREND of last season was even worse than the record itself. All past talk of Sanchez stepping up in big games was laughable. The OL actually played marginally better, and the Jets still lost games in the second half. And for the first time since Ryan came to the team, there were real problems in the locker room. That quite simply is worse than a team that went 8-8 due to an early season swoon. Sniffing the Playoffs. As mentioned, the Jets went from a Champ Game appearance to 8-8. But there were 22 teams in the league that had records of 7 wins or better. Even at 8 wins there were 20 teams with at least 8. So we can say that "sniffing the playoffs" means the Jets were in no better position than 19 other teams in the league? That doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment to me.
What's illogical is that they would have extended Sanchez in the interim creating what is likely to be a divided clubhouse next year at all levels. The Jets just have no rhythm at all these days. They lost a lot of the heart of the team last off-season and replaced those guys with people almost guaranteed to have less impact last season. Then they apparently climbed all over Sanchez for not progressing despite the downgrades in talent all around him and despite the fact that in some ways he did progress. Then they (for whatever reason) locked themselves into two more years of Sanchez. Then they went out and got Tim Tebow, a player the Broncos have been desperately trying to rid themselves of since McDaniels left town. These moves in total are not panicky, they're pathetic. We're watching a professional football team being run in about as rudderless and counter-productive a manner as possible at this point. If it was another team you could say it was just a bad patch that they were going through, but since we've seen almost exactly the same bad patch less than a decade ago it begins to look like a pattern and that pattern doesn't end with a Super Bowl parade. It ends with 4-12 and another bright shiny media friendly coach going out of town and another weird progression in the FO in the wake of that.
This is why there will be so much emphasis on the early season games and especially on Sanchez, unfortunately for him. The spotlight will be on, "Is the late-season downward trend within the 8-8 record continuing, or do we have a fix?" This is going to put immense pressure on Ryan, the players and mostly, again unfortunately for him, Sanchez. The fans in attendance will be looking for any indication of last year's trend and the media will exacerbate the problem. So yeah, this will start from the very first 3-and-out and don't be surprised to hear fans yelling "Tebow! - Tebow!" at the Home Opener, as ridiculous as that is. This is going to be one hell of a season. I do expect attendance figures at the stadium to be up there. Everyone will turn out to see the spectacle. So I just hope it turns out okay and we start winning. If we don't, all hell will break loose in Ringling Bros Land.
The one thing this team can least afford this season is yet another SLOW START. Historically, this team starts slow and then around the late Oct/Nov timeframe, pick up the pace. This team has to come out the gate smokin. They have to dispel the popular belief that the team is in disarray and more likely a PR creation than an actual contender. It they falter, like 227 sez, the Circus will certainly be on the clock and no matter how Rex tries to spin it, yet another overhaul/rebuild will be in the works at the end of the season or at the very latest, 2013. So many intrigues to this season its mindblowing.
For all the flourishes and drama this offseason has produced so far it should all be blown away in the first game when Sanchez unleashes the first of many bombs this season to send a message to the league.
I very stongly suspect that the Jets made the extension decision void of any plans for Manning or Tebow. How could they have known at the time that these opportunities would present themselves? They did what they needed to do to keep peace with Sanchez. Then, all of a sudden, the Manning Sweepstakes presents itself. Well, now, "I know we just gave Mark this extension but come on fellas, a chance to get Peyton Manning in here?" So the interest is put out there and Sanchez gets wind of it and is going, "WTF?" And then Manning lands in, of all places, Denver, and all of a sudden Tebow is available. Well, the cat is already out of the bag concerning Sanchez, who already knows the ovations made to Manning to try to lure him to come to NY. So what the hell, it's not that much further of a stretch to court Tebow now as well... and it worked! I firmly believe this is how it all went down. It's just too illogical to put this string of events together and assume the Jets knew in advance how it would all play out as they were giving The Annointed One his extension. I believe the Jets never envisioned what was to unfold, but once it did, Woody saw all of this as a way to acomplish two things... bring in a second, very capable, athletic gadget QB and boost dwindling ticket sales. They weighed the impact this would have on Sanchez' confidence level and said, "Screw it, bring him in here anyway."
Winning will fix everything. Losing will create a Ringling Bros situation at the least. And if Tebow is inserted and we're still losing, expect a more disastrous outcome even than the "Flying Walendas" high-wire accident and death of Karl Walenda. Sanchez will have no confidence. Tebow will have no confidence. The WRs and Offense will have no confidence and the Locker Room will erupt in complete Bedlam. These are the likely outcomes now.
This is another fear of mine too. Rex verbally addressed this last year and we did manage to squeak out a win over the Cowboys, even though we tried our damnest to lose that game. Another slow-start season simply cannot be allowed this year due to the aforementioned. This is going to be one hell of a start this year with a hell of a lot riding on the first 4 games.
The Jets have fundamentally changed the offense 7 times in the last 14 seasons by my count. They went to Vinny/Foley/Martin-Weis in 1998 and started out 2-3. They went to Chad-Hackett in 2002 and went 1-2 in Chad's first 3 starts. They went to Chad-Heimerdinger in 2005 and I won't detail that one because a series of injuries derailed it. They went to Chad-Schotty in 2006 and went 2-3 at the start. They went to Favre-Schotty in 2008 and went 2-2 then 3-3. They went to Sanchez-Schotty in 2009 and went 3-0, then 3-3. Finally they went pass first last year with Sanchez-Schotty and got off to 2-2. I'd say the odds are really good the Jets get off to a 1-3, 2-2 type start next season. That's going to create enormous pressure on everybody.
In the mind of a Jets rational fan, 2-2 would be livable. 1-3 would create somewhat of a QB controversy and 0-4 would probably create a call for intense scrutiny and possibly a QB change. In the mind of most irrational Jets fans, however, which makes up approximately 92% of Jets Nation, 2-2 would create QB controversy, 1-3 would demand an immediate change and 0-4 would set up Flying Walendas hysteria.
The last time the Jets got out to 0-4 without having a serious injury as the cause was 1996. I think Flying Wallendas would be a rational response to 0-4 unless a serious injury(s) was the cause. I wish I felt better about the Jets chances at this point but every time I've had a deep foreboding feeling about the upcoming season it's crystallized into a season I hated watching before it was over. Last year caught me by surprise. The insta-sack by DeWare to open things up on the first play was ominous but the play of Hunter on the other side was the thing that sealed the Jets fate. One bull rush by D'Brick was almost accidental but seeing that happen over and over again on the right side was not.
Just to clarify, the extension occurred after Manning said the Jets were not on his list, AND Denver was on it before the extension, as well. If Denver did get Manning, it should have been clear that Tebow was a goner.
As of right now, completely agree. 2-2 is definitely livable for any rational Jets fan. Obviously this changes based on schedule, rosters, etc, but 2-2 should not be the cause for widespread panic
If this is correct (and I take your word that it is), then I have completely blown the timeline in my mind. Maybe I'm subliminally rationalizing the sequence of events. So now, I'm sitting here like all the rest going, "Okay, you give him the extension WHILE you are courting Ringling Bros? The only sense I can make of this now is that the Jets truly think Tebow will settle for a back-up, gadget role. It's either that or they know Tebow will compete fiercely for the QB spot and they gave Sanchez the extension without giving a shit one way or the other as to who earns (or takes over) the QB slot. An insurance policy, if you will. We're destined to relive the Ringling Bros Flying Wallenda Act again without a safety net.
My understanding is not that the extension was granted after the Jets sought out Tebow. But the Jet FO knew Denver was a possible place Manning might have landed. More to the point was your statement about the extention in relation to trying to get Manning. That occurred after Manning indicated the short list of teams he was interested in, the Jets not being on it. That is why so many have concluded the extension was granted as a reaction to being dissed by Manning, or the perception that some might see it as being dissed.
I would love to have someone recant the exact sequence of the earliest of the Manning dissing statements, the first indication of the decision to extend Sanchez, and finally, the Tebow courting, although it's now quite evident this event occurred well after the former two events. I believe these are very relevent to the secrecy behind WTF we are doing here and what the hell our game-plan is.
